Nano Nagle

Nano Nagle

Honora "Nano" Nagle (1718 – 26 April 1784) founded the "Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (PBVM) in Ireland (also known as the "Presentation Sisters"). Of the many schools founded by the Presentation Sisters - a number are named after Nano Nagle.

== Family background and historical context == Born in France At the time of Nagle's birth, English supremacy in Ireland had been consolidated by force, and English determination to hold what had been gained lay behind the long series of laws which sought to destroy Irish Catholic identity, whether that identity found expression in land ownership, civic position, culture or religion. The great houses, traditional source of civic and social leadership, were for the most part destroyed. Exile of bishops, priests, religious, left the Church equally without leadership. Without legal right to exist, forbidden to worship, forbidden to teach, it was a Church seemingly without hope of future. In an economy controlled for the benefit of the powerful, the poor sank into sub-human conditions, beyond the touch of hope.

In Ireland's County Cork, on the road which runs between Fermoy and Mallow lies Blackwater Valley with views of the distant Nagle Mountains. Much of this region was once the property of the Nagle family. In the protracted struggle for the possession of Ireland, the Nagles' loyalty to the Catholic king and the Catholic faith cost them extensive lands. However, when Garret Nagle married Ann Matthew, the family still owned extensive property at Ballygriffin, Killavullen County Cork, as Garret's brother Joseph had converted to the English-imposed Protestantism so that he could hold property on behalf of the Roman Catholic members of his family as was required under the Penal Laws then in force.

Here in Ballygriffen in 1718, Garret and Ann's first child, a daughter, was born. The name "Honora" given at baptism was soon replaced in the family circle by the affectionate diminutive "Nano", the name which clung to her all through life.